FOOTNOTES:

^a Genealogies are not just to make sure people don’t forget birth order or satisfy curiosity for data. In scripture, they are important parts of telling stories. They are meant to be a summary to remind the reader of all that happened with the people named, leading up to the current point in the story. In this case, the writer of Matthew is telling the reader that the story in this book is the next chapter in the story that began with Abraham, was continued through David’s kingdom, and then the Exile and return from Babylon. It’s all one story and cannot be understood outside of that context. Even more interesting here is the inclusion of women, which was never done at the time. Not only are they women, but some are Gentiles (non-Israelites) and one is even a sex worker. These women are essential parts of Jesus’ story. At least as notably, Jesus is put at the transition to the 7th of 7 clusters of 7 generations, pointing to him beginning the culmination of that story with those who follow him leading toward the final completion of it. It points toward the concept of Jubilee, a restoration of all things based on Leviticus 25.

^b Christos is the Greek translation of the Hebrew meshiah which has traditionally been transliterated as Messiah (and Christ) but translated would literally be “anointed.” The definition of ‘anointed’ is to be ‘smeared with ointment or oil’ and the biblical significance of anointing is to be selected by God (or a prophet of God) for a special appointment, usually king and sometimes other roles like priest or prophet, and experience a ceremony in which the prophet places oil on the head to signify that appointment.

^c Her name is Bathsheba.

^d ‘Mary’ is the English version of the Greek version of the Hebrew name ‘Miriam.’ Many names were de-Jewish-ized and then passed down as tradition so that now it seems strange to translate them as it originally was.

^e Literally, christos which is the Greek translation of meshiah or ‘anointed.’

^f The generations are divided into three sets of 14. There is a slight discrepancy with David being listed twice and with Johaiakim missing, and the ‘forced relocation to Babylon’ being used as one of the generations. There is a reason the author is forcing the numbers to make three equal sets of 14. Three is an important number in Scripture, but even more, these three sets of 14 can also be divided into six sets of seven. This makes Jesus inaugurate the seventh set of seven; Messiah completes the sixth seven and gathers followers to be the seventh seven. Seven is the number of completion, and having seven times seven makes it an even more powerful symbol of completion. Yet, Jesus doesn’t complete but rather begins the seventh seven. Those who follow him are commissioned to complete the work. Additionally, and something all Jews would have known, is that seven sets of seven also points to Jubilee, a reference to Leviticus 25, seeming to indicate that Matthew’s gospel sees Jesus as beginning the final period leading to a Great Jubilee, a restoration of all things. This concept serves as the thematic lens for the whole book of Matthew.

^g The Greek word here is hagios, traditionally translated as ‘holy.’

^h Traditionally, ‘Spirit.’ The Greek word pneuma can be translated into English as ‘breath,’ ‘spirit,’ and ‘wind.’ This is also true of Hebrew (ruach), Aramaic (rukha) and Latin (spiritus). The concepts of these things in the minds of Hebrew and Greek speakers were not nearly as distinct as they are in English. They are separate enough to use word play in John 3 in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, but the sense that the ‘spirit’ is the ‘breath of life’ within each living being must not be ignored in understanding how the scriptures, and how the air and sky (heavens) are used to describe where spiritual reality is present (in the wind). Whenever ‘Life-breath’ or ‘spirit’ referring to God’s spirit or the spirit within people that provides them with life, the reader would be aided to think of Genesis 2:7.

ⁱ The Greek is idou, which literally means ‘look.’ It is an idiomatic way to catch the audience’s attention and point out that something noteworthy is happening.

^j This phrase is the same wording as in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint) where in many English translations it shows “The angel of the Lord,” often in a way that seems to make no distinction between the messenger and God. One example (out of dozens) where the Greek wording matches Matthew 1:20 is in Exodus 3:2. The New English Translation reads, “The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. He looked, and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed!” Robert Altar’s translation of the Hebrew Bible (2019) reads, “And the LORD’s messenger appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush, and he saw and look, the bush was burning with fire and the bush was not consumed.”

^k Many translations supply the word ‘child’ here. The Greek does not have that word. It more literally says ‘the thing,’ which is not meant to dehumanize but rather is just left vague as to what it is referring to. It could be referring to the growing embryo or it could referring more to ‘what is happening’ in her.

^l Jesus is the Greek version of Joshua, which in Hebrew (Yeshua) means ‘Yahweh restores’ (Yahweh is the name of God, written in Hebrew as YHWH).

^m Traditionally, ‘save.’ This word can be translated a number of ways, with all of them about taking action to create or protect wellbeing. Options include, ‘liberate,’ ‘restore,’ ‘heal,’ ‘protect,’ ‘rescue,’ and others. Matthew’s thematic focus is on restoring the people to their calling to represent God and live with love and justice, bringing them back to those things from where they’ve wandered in other directions.

ⁿ The word for ‘people’ here is singular (laos), a collective term referring to them as a unified whole; therefore, the ‘sins’ (which is translated here as ‘deviations’) referred to would be the sins of the group as a whole rather than each individual separately. This has been connected by some with Deuteronomy 28-30, and saving from deviations in that context would mean restoring the people to receiving the ‘blessings’ and life rather than the ‘curses,’ returning from Exile (or forced relocation) from the land.

^o The word traditionally translated as ‘virgin’ wasn’t directly about sex; it was about marriage. It’s the same as the mostly outdated English word ‘maiden.’ It means a girl (specifically female) who is not yet married—so there’s an implication of also not ever having had sex within the cultural expectations, but that’s not the meaning of the word.

^p Reference to Isaiah 7:1-10:4, especially 7:14 and 8:8-10. Notice the references to darkness and unjust rulers here in preparation for Matthew 2.

^q The word ginosko literally means ‘to know,’ which was an idiom for sex drawing on the Hebrew word yada. This is an appropriate parallel for the English euphemism of referring to sex as ‘intimacy,’ which means a deep knowing and connection.